Gender feminism is a term used in relation to other forms of feminism. First explicated in the book "Who Stole Feminism?" in 1994, Christina Hoff Sommers categorized gender feminism as a gynocentric subdivision of feminism.[1] According to Wendy McElroy and Hoff Sommers, gender or political feminism is defined in opposition to individualist feminism.[1][2] Hoff Sommers also says that although feminism is the dismantlement of the patriarchy and challenges gender roles, the notion that gender differences do not exist biologically is problematic.[1]

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Disapproval of modern-day gender roles and the gradual eradication of them are at the foundation of gender feminism. Gender feminism aims to bring awareness to a perspective on the development of the different sexes.[3] Feminism is defined as a "collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women".[4]

Gender feminism, as described by Judith Lorber, views gender as socially constructed. Furthermore, that this construction of gender is embedded into various aspects of the everyday social order, which consists of power, privileges and economic resources.[5][6]

The term was used especially in the early 1990s[7][8][9] to refer to some different concepts. It has been used to distinguish perceived radical feminism in comparison to liberal feminism.[7] It has also been used in relation to some feminists' arguments about gendering and other topics: that all cognition is gendered and that all knowledge is gendered.[8] Gender reform feminism laid the theoretical groundwork for second-wave feminism. Contrary to equity feminist, who have an exclusive sociopolitical aspiration for men’s and women’s legal and social equality, gender feminist also argue that psychological differences between men and women are adapted from societal acclimation and have little to do with evolution.[10]

Though viewed as the dominant feminist outlook among scholars, as an alternative version of feminism, gender feminism has been met with opposition. Critiques argue that there is science that supports the claim that the sexes are substantially different in a natural and inherent way. Kuhle maintains that due to evolution, regardless of whether they are viewed as equal, men and women have diverse roles in society.[3] Others argue that every feminist has an altered standpoint on the movement due to the varying hurdles women of different backgrounds come across.[11]

Divisions in feminist ideology have caused many to question the cohesiveness of the feminist movement as a whole and if devoting their efforts to the movement would genuinely be beneficial. Although, varying perspectives have hindered the collaboration of some feminist subdivisions, a common interest in the upward mobilization of women as a whole has prompted a desire for a more inclusive and universal feminist movement.[12]